Euphorbia pulcherrima. 
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Poinsettia plant, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd., and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Eckalbenoxe2x80x99.
The new Poinsettia a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Encinitas, Calif. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Poinsettia cultivars having flower bracts with desirable colors, uniform plant habit and excellent post-production longevity.
The new Poinsettia is a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of a unnamed proprietary induced mutation, not patented, that originated by exposing unrooted cuttings of the Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. cultivar Eckaddis, disclosed in U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 09/779,340, to gamma radiation. The new Poinsettia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single plant within a population of plants of the irradiated selection on or about Mar. 3, 2000, in a controlled environment in Encinitas, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new Poinsettia by terminal cuttings taken at Encinitas, Calif., since 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Poinsettia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Eckalbenoxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Eckalbenoxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Ball-shaped inflorescences with recurved pale yellow and pink bi-colored flower bracts.
2. Recurved dark green-colored leaves.
3. Uniform and mounded plant habit.
4. Early flowering; natural season flower maturity date is December 1 for plants grown in Encinitas, Calif.; response time, about 9.5 weeks.
5. Excellent post-production longevity.
Plants of the new Poinsettia can be compared to plants of the cultivar Eckaddis. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Encinitas, Calif., plants of the new Poinsettia differed primarily from plants of the cultivar Eckaddis in flower bract color as plants of the cultivar Eckaddis have solid dark pink-colored flower bracts.
Plants of the new Poinsettia can also be compared to plants of the cultivar Windark, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,546. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Encinitas, Calif., plants of the new Poinsettia differed primarily from plants of the cultivar Windark in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Poinsettia were slightly taller than plants of the cultivar Windark.
2. Plants of the new Poinsettia had longer leaves than plants of the cultivar Windark.
3. Leaf and flower bract petioles of plants of the new Poinsettia were green in color whereas leaf and flower bract petioles of plants of the cultivar Windark were red in color.
4. Inflorescences of plants of the new Poinsettia were more rounded than inflorescences of plants of the cultivar Windark.
5. Flower bracts of plants of the new Poinsettia were pale yellow and pink bi-colored whereas flower bracts of plants of the cultivar Windark were solid red-colored.